Guinea Bissau Experience - part 1

Recently, i spent 3 weeks in Guinea Bissau within the context of my youth work in the Portuguese National Youth Council. Since i first started the adventure of creating a pool of trainers and a non formal education training strategy within the council in 2006, i had the vision of expanding our experience to other south European youth councils, but most of all to the Portuguese official speaking countries youth councils. After, the Africa Europe youth summit in the end of 2007, the political demands were stated and the foundations were set so that we could make one step forward in the Africa Europe youth cooperation field. Last year, we designed the application for EU funding which allow us to start a unique project in 2009 - The cooperation among youth councils from both continents to share experiences with non formal education training strategies and pools of trainers as tools to strengthen the political and grass roots work of the councils.
There are many challenges to be met while working in such context:
1. on one side there is all the history of unbalanced and unfair political and economical relations among actors from both continents;
2. from another perspective, there are the different expectations, perceptions, stereotypes and prejudices that affect the way many Africans see Europe, European Institutions and Europeans, and the contrary as well - the way Europeans see Africa. Most of times, these expectations, perceptions, stereotypes and prejudices do not allows us to fully comprehend the reality once that both Africa and Europe are very diverse continents and any country in each of this continents also encompasses huge social, economical and political diversity when it comes to the peoples;
3. No matter how much i question and how much open i am to look at the realities of Africa and try to understand them, i must recognize that i will always be influenced by my background as a middle class, white, man, graduated in Economics, youth worker, portuguese, european non formal educator, etc... So any attempt to understand things in Guinea Bissau, like in any other place in the world, needs to accept this fact and try to reduce its influence in my capacity to analyze and comprehend realities around there.
It was not an easy task, already starting with basic issues connected with living conditions such as accommodation, food and personal hygiene and health care. In Bissau we are confronted with our European living standards which we have been used to since we were born and which are not necessarily the best ones. The differences are gigantic and pose already a huge challenge for those who have a reduced comfort zone. In Bissau most people do not have easy access to water supply sources, few access to sanitation facilities similar to those we have in Europe. The people have poor hygiene behaviours, and inadequate sanitation in public places including hospitals, health centres and schools. The waste management is done in open air drains and there are pigs, chickens, lambs and the vultures ensure the city is clean!
In the capital, electricity supply is cut off in the end of the afternoon and generators get in action everywhere. Still it is possible to see an amazing sky full of stars every night!
Walking in the night can become dangerous due to the many holes in the roads and sidewalks which can become an unpleasant surprise to the distracted walker. During the day, walking in the streets of Bissau centre is an amazing experience with the hot sun rays falling on your head and shoulders, the soft thin dust getting impregnated in each little pore, the open air improvised shops, the simple friendly eyes of the locals, the appearance of a village in each corner, the colors, the scents... So different and yet so familiar to me. Bissau is full of decrepit old colonial style buildings. A living remembrance of other times - constantly questioning us about what is was? What it could have been? how history could have told another story if other ways of interaction among peoples would have already been in place.
Bissau impacts us by its rawness, savage atmosphere but as well by it's peoples of immense sympathy, openness, solidarity, simplicity, joyfulness, etc, etc. Here we cannot talk about inclusion of nature in the city environment simply because nature doesn't allow us to forget that we are a part of it.
Bissau is a crossroad, an obligatory passage to those who transit from the airport to the countryside, those who lay their eyes on the port on any afternoon sunset and dream with the amazing Bijagós Archipelago or those who try to cross Bissau driving between Senegal and Guinea Conacri which can take couple of days or weeks depending on the weather conditions.
It seems that there is poverty but i stayed with the impression that people don't starve like it sometimes happens in European countries, simply because here nature provides a lot of food supply. There is fish and seafood like i never had before, obliging me to accept that Setúbal (my home town) is not the best place to eat fish in the world like i used to say. There are fruits of which i elect papaya as the best of the best. And there are other dry fruits like cabaceira or veludo which are excellent to make juices but can also be eaten dry. One of them is even a natural anti malaria!
To be continued...